Woman, 21, Wins Suit in 1979 Molestation Case

A 21-year-old Lomita woman has won a $241,000 civil suit against a man who she alleged had molested her when she was 10 years old.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Danielle Adam $141,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering and $100,000 in punitive damages. The suit alleged that Fred Thrasher, 48, of Los Angeles, had molested her for two years, beginning in 1979, while living with her mother in the family home.

Gloria Allred, the attorney who filed the suit for Adam, said that her client had “experienced trauma so devastating that she attempted suicide three times.”

Ralph Bencangey, attorney for the defendant, said “we will resist this judgment all the way.” He said his client took “exhaustive psychological tests and interviews which showed that he was extremely normal and not an aggravated offender.”